Local on WACN 21 News

Fulton County issues boil-water advisory after Cascade Road water-main break

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:22:00 -0400

Fulton County issued a boil-water advisory Friday morning for parts of southwest Atlanta after a water-main break on Cascade Road SW sent water gushing into the roadway and forced emergency shutoffs that drained pressure in the local distribution network.

The advisory covers ZIP codes 30311 and 30331, county water-resources staff said in a 10:22 a.m. alert. Residents and businesses in those ZIPs should boil tap water for at least one minute before drinking, brushing teeth, washing dishes, or preparing food. The advisory also applies to ice made from tap water.

Hartsfield-Jackson sets new record for busiest day in airport history

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 05:30:00 -0400

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport logged its busiest day ever on Thursday, with 268,412 passengers moving through its terminals — a 4 percent jump over the previous record set in July 2019, the airport announced Friday morning.

The single-day total was driven by a confluence of factors, airport officials said: the kickoff of summer travel season, a major convention at the Georgia World Congress Center, and FIFA World Cup match-day traffic from fans heading to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

DeKalb County embarks on largest road repaving program in a decade

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 19:00:00 -0400

DeKalb County is launching its largest road repaving program in a decade, spending $87 million to resurface 230 lane-miles of residential streets over the next two years, county officials announced Wednesday.

The program — funded by a mix of the county’s 2024 SPLOST (special-purpose local-option sales tax), state gas-tax revenue, and federal infrastructure dollars — is the first time DeKalb has invested at this scale in residential paving since 2016.

BeltLine's Southside trail gap is finally closing. Here's what's opening — and what isn't.

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 18:00:00 -0400

The Atlanta BeltLine’s Southside trail — long mocked as the gap where the city’s signature greenway project abruptly ends in southwest Atlanta — is finally within sight of completion.

Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. confirmed Wednesday that the two-mile segment between the Oakland City MARTA station and the West End MARTA station is on track to open to pedestrians and cyclists by mid-October, ahead of the originally promised 2027 deadline.

For the residents of some of the city’s most park-poor neighborhoods, the news is real. It’s also a long time coming.

Atlanta Public Schools launches universal free lunch program

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:00:00 -0400

Atlanta Public Schools will offer free breakfast and lunch to every student beginning this fall, regardless of household income, under a new policy unanimously approved by the school board Tuesday night.

The Universal Free Lunch program covers all 50,200 students across APS’s 87 schools — making it one of the largest school districts in the country to extend free meals to every child, regardless of need.

What’s in the program

Free breakfast for all K-12 students, served in classrooms or cafeterias
Free lunch for all K-12 students
Free after-school snacks at all schools with after-care programs
No paperwork — no income verification, no enrollment forms, no opt-in

The program is funded through a combination of:

Cobb County schools adopt new phone-in-pocket policy for high schoolers

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:00 -0400

Cobb County School District will require all high schoolers to keep their phones in lockable pouches during the school day, starting this fall.

The policy, approved by the school board in a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, applies to all 6 traditional Cobb high schools and about 23,000 students. It’s modeled on a program that started in Yondr and has been adopted by districts in California, New York, and elsewhere.

How it works

At the start of each school day, students will be issued a Yondr pouch — a soft, magnetic-locking case — at a designated checkpoint. They slide their phone in, lock it, and keep the case with them. The pouch has no key — only a base-station unlocking device at the school’s front office can release the phone at the end of the day.

Atlanta man exonerated after 22 years in prison, lawsuit against city begins

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 20:00:00 -0400

Marcus Holloway walked out of the Fulton County Jail at 4:47 p.m. Friday — 22 years, 3 months, and 11 days after he was arrested for a murder he has always said he did not commit.

DNA testing on a cigarette butt found at the original crime scene — never tested at trial — excluded Holloway as a contributor. A second test on a hairshaft found on the victim reached the same conclusion. The Fulton County District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit moved to vacate the conviction within hours of receiving the lab reports.

MARTA board approves long-delayed bus network redesign. Here's what's changing in August.

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:00:00 -0400

MARTA’s board of directors voted 8–2 Thursday to approve the long-delayed NextGen Bus Network redesign — the first top-to-bottom overhaul of the agency’s bus map in roughly 40 years.

The new network goes live August 24.

If you ride MARTA buses in Atlanta, your route is almost certainly changing. Here’s what to know.

What’s getting better

The redesign follows a “high-frequency grid” model that has become standard in peer cities like Houston, Seattle, and Denver. The principle: concentrate service on a smaller number of routes that run every 15 minutes or better, every day, all day.